Hopkinton: Cross-country relay passes Marathon route

Monday

Apr 14, 2014 at 12:01 AMApr 14, 2014 at 4:02 PM

By Anamika RoyDaily News Staff

HOPKINTON - One week before the Boston Marathon, a team of eight runners gathered at the starting line Sunday morning.Wearing the race’s signature blue and yellow, the runners were waiting for a blue SUV covered with messages and with an inflatable duck tied to the front.Given the nickname, “the stink mobile” the vehicle started its journey in Santa Monica, Calif., and has been driven across the country, following more than 2,000 runners on a 3,300-mile relay race to raise money for One Fund Boston.Race organizers Danny Bent, Kate Treleaven and Jamie Hay started the non-stop relay on March 16 and crossed 14 states, driving through tornadoes and being chased by coyotes along the way.“Not a lot of sleep and loads of rubbish food,” said Bent.But as the relay reached its final stage on Sunday, Bent says it was all worth it.Bent, Treleaven and Hay organized the first One Run Boston relay seven weeks after the bombing last year. They raised more than $91,000 for the charity.To get the word out for this year's event, the trio created a grassroots movement all the way from England, their home country, through social media to get runners across the United States involved. Many survivors joined the effort.This year, Bent says the event was much better planned and he hopes to raise $450,000 for One Fund. As of Sunday morning they had already raised more than $420,000.When the car reached Hopkinton Sunday morning, the trio greeted the runners with high spirits, hugging them as though they were old friends.“When you’re a runner, you feel a bond with everyone else,” said Bent, who’s from a family of runners and says he’s been running since he was 18 months old.A group was running from Upton to pass the relay baton to the runners in Hopkinton. They started running at 8:55 a.m. Runners could sign up for stages on the One Run website. Distances varied from 5 miles to 12 miles. Some runners even ran overnight wearing headlamps.Melissa Southwell of Maynard was lead runner in the Hopkinton-to-Framingham stage of Sunday’s relay. She ran in the relay last year after she was caught between the two bombs at the Marathon finish line.“Running after that helped me heal,” she said.Southwell is running the Marathon this year and chose the starting line stage of the relay this year to prepare for pre-race jitters.“There’s going to be a lot of emotions on Marathon Monday,” she said.The relay was scheduled to end at the Marathon finish line Sunday evening.Learn about One Run for Boston’s journey on their website, onerunforboston.org.Anamika Roy can be reached at 508-626-3957 or aroy@wickedlocal.com. Follow her on Twitter @anamikaroy.